"This comes of airy visions and the whispers
Of demons like to angels. Brother, weep."
Gilead Beck, returning from the Twickenham party before the explosion,
found Jack Dunquerque waiting for him. As we have seen, he was not
invited.
"Tell me how she was looking!" he cried. "Did she ask after me?"
"Wal, Mr. Dunquerque, I reckon you the most fortunate individual in
the hull world. She looked like an angel, and she talked like a--like
a woman, with pretty blushes; and yet she wasn't ashamed neither.
Seems as if bein' ashamed isn't her strong point. And what has she got
to be ashamed of?"
"Did Colquhoun say anything?"
"We had already got upon the subject, and I had ventured to make him a
proposition. You see, Mr. Dunquerque"--he grew confused, and
hesitated--"fact is, I want you to look at things just exactly as I
do. I'm rich. I have struck Ile; that Ile is the mightiest Special
Providence ever given to a single man. But it's given for purposes.
And one of those purposes is that some of it's got to go to you."
"To me?"
"To you, Mr. Dunquerque. Who fired that shot? Who delivered me from
the Grisly?"
"Why, Ladds did as much as I."
Mr. Beck shook his head.
"Captain Ladds is a fine fellow," he said. "Steady as a rock is
Captain Ladds. There's nobody I'd rather march under if we'd the war
to do all over again. But the Ile isn't for Captain Ladds. It isn't
for him that the Golden Butterfly fills me with yearnin's. No sir. I
owe it all to you. You've saved my life; you've sought me out, and
gone about this city with me; you've put me up to ropes; you've taken
me to that sweet creature's house and made her my friend. And Mrs.
L'Estrange my friend, too. If I was to turn away and forget you, I
should deserve to lose that precious Inseck."
He paused for a minute.
"I said to Mr. Colquhoun, 'Mr. Dunquerque shall have half of my pile,
and more if he wants it. Only you let him come back again to Miss
Fleming.' And he laughed in his easy way; there's no kind of man in
the States like that Mr. Colquhoun--seems as if he never wants to get
anything. He laughed and lay back on the grass. And then he said, 'My
dear fellow, let Jack come back if he likes; there's no fighting
against fate; only let him have the decency not to announce his
engagement till Phillis has had her first season.' Then he drank some
cider-cup, and lay back again. Mrs. Cassilis--she's a very superior
woman that, but a trifle cold, I should say--watched him whenever he
spoke. She's got a game of her own, unless I am mistaken."
"But, Beck," Jack gasped, "I can't do this thing; I can't take your
money."
"I guess, sir, you can, and I guess you will. Come, Mr. Dunquerque,
say you won't go against Providence. There's a sweet young lady
waiting for you, and a little mountain of dollars."
But Jack shook his head.
"I thank you all the same," he said. "I shall never forget your
generosity--never. But that cannot be."
"We will leave it to Miss Fleming," said Gilead. "What Miss Fleming
says is to be, shall be----"
He was interrupted by the arrival of two letters.
The first was from Joseph Jagenal. It informed him that he had learned
from his brothers that they had received money from him on account of
work which he thought would never be done. He enclosed a cheque for
the full amount, with many thanks for his kindness, and the earnest
hope that he would advance nothing more.
In the letter was his cheque for £400, the amount which the Twins had
borrowed during the four weeks of their acquaintance.
Mr. Beck put the cheque in his pocket and opened the other letter. It
was from Cornelius, and informed him that the Poem could not possibly
be finished in the time; that it was rapidly advancing; but that he
could not pledge himself to completing the work by October. Also, that
his brother Humphrey found himself in the same position as regarded
the Picture. He ended by the original statement that Art cannot be
forced.
Mr. Beck laughed.
"Not straight men, Mr. Dunquerque. I suspected it first when they
backed out at the dinner, and left me to do the talk. Wal, they may be
high-toned, whole-souled, and talented; but give me the man who works.
Now Mr. Dunquerque, if you please, we'll go and have some dinner, and
you shall talk about Miss Fleming. And the day after to-morrow--you
note that down--I've asked Mrs. L'Estrange and Miss Phillis to
breakfast. Captain Ladds is coming, and Mr. Colquhoun. And you shall
sit next to her. Mrs. Cassilis is coming too. When I asked her she
wanted to know if Mr. Colquhoun was to be there. I said yes. Then she
wanted to know if Phillis was to be there. I said yes. Then she set
her lips hard, and said, 'I will come, Mr. Beck.' She isn't happy,
that lady; she's got somethin' on her mind."
That evening Joseph Jagenal had an unpleasant duty to perform. It was
at dinner that he spoke. The Twins were just taking their first glass
of port. He had been quite silent through dinner, eating little. Now
he looked from one to the other without a word.
They changed colour. Instinctively they knew what was coming. He said
with a gulp:
"I am sorry to find that my brothers have not been acting honourably."
"What is this, brother Humphrey," asked Cornelius.
"I do not know, brother Cornelius," said the Artist.
"I will tell you," said Joseph, "what they have done. They made a
disingenuous attempt to engage the affections of a rich young lady for
the sake of her money."
"If Humphrey loved the girl----" began Cornelius.
"If Cornelius was devoted to Phillis Fleming----" began Humphrey.
"I was not, Humphrey," said Cornelius. "No such thing. And I told you
so."
"I never did love her," said Humphrey. "I always said it was you."
This was undignified.
"I do not care which it was. It belongs to both. Then you went down to
her again, under the belief that she was engaged to--to--the Lord
knows which of you--and solemnly broke it off."
Neither spoke this time.
"Another thing. I regret to find that my brothers, having made a
contract for certain work with Mr. Gilead Beck, and having been partly
paid in advance, are not executing the work."
"There, Joseph," said Humphrey, waving his hand as if this was a
matter on quite another footing, "you must excuse us. We know what is
right in Art, if we know nothing else. Art, Joseph, cannot be forced."
Cornelius murmured assent.
"We have our dignity to stand upon; we retreat with dignity. We say,
'We will not be forced; we will give the world our best.'"
"Good," said Joseph. "That is very well; but where is the money?"
Neither answered.
"I have returned that money; but it is a large sum, and you must repay
me in part. Understand me, brothers. You may stay here as long as I
live: I shall never ask more of you than to respect the family name.
There was a time when you promised great things, and I believed in
you. It is only quite lately that I have learned to my sorrow that all
this promise has been for years a pretence. You sleep all day--you
call it work. You habitually drink too much at night. You,
Cornelius"--the Poet started--"have not put pen to paper for years.
You, Humphrey"--the Artist hung his head--"have neither drawn nor
painted anything since you came to live with me. I cannot make either
of you work. I cannot retrieve the past. I cannot restore lost habits
of industry. I cannot even make you feel your fall from the promise of
your youth, or remember the hopes of our father. What I can do is to
check your intemperate habits by such means as are in my power."
He stopped; they were trembling violently.
"Half of the £400 which you have drawn from Mr. Beck will be paid by
household saving. Wine will disappear from my table; brandy-and-soda
will have to be bought at your own expense. I shall order the dinners,
and I shall keep the key of the wine-cellar."
A year has passed. The Twins have had a sad time; they look forward
with undisguised eagerness to the return of the years of fatness; they
have exhausted their own little income in purchasing the means for
their midnight _séances_; and they have run up a frightful score
at the Carnarvon Arms.
But they still keep up bravely the pretence about their work.